More Than Christmas
With the week Epiphany, the Twelve Days of Christmas come to an end, and we return to Ordinary Time. Those of you who miss Christmas, and are sad to say farewell to it, can find perhaps some consolation in the other feasts to come with names that are largely forgotten.
As a public service, and to brighten the hearts of traditionalist, I here list other Masses aside from Christmas.
Other liturgical feasts with the -mas suffix are listed below:
- Childermas, December 28, is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Christian feast in remembrance of the massacre of young children in Bethlehem by King Herod the Great in his attempt to kill the infant Christ. These children are considered martyrs, on the grounds that, even if they did not know it, they were slain for the faith.
- Candlemas, February 2, is the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, upon which day candles are blessed. It is a reference to the Nunc Dimittis of holy Simeon, whose canticle refers to Christ as a light to gentiles and glory to Israel. Candlemas traditionally marked the end of the Christmas season.
- Roodmas, or Crouchmas, May 3, is the Feast of the Invention (that is, the Finding) of the Holy Cross. The “Holy Rood” is another name for the Holy Cross.
- Marymas, August 15, is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the date the Virgin was carried to heaven. Note that Assumption is not the same as Ascension. Technically, Christ rose under His own power, being God. She was carried to heaven by Him.
- Michaelmas, September 29. The Feast of Archangel Michael and All Angels. He is the Prince of the Heavenly Host fated to overthrow Lucifer in battle. It is the traditional day for hiring servants, selling land, settling debts, electing magistrates. It is traditional to feast on goose this day, and considered bad luck to gather blackberries.
- Allhallowmas or Hallowmas, November 1, is the Feast of All Saints’ Day. It was originally celebrated to commemorate 28 wagonloads of martyrs’ bones brought out from the catacombs and interred in the Pantheon, then newly consecrated as a Christian church.
The Vigil of All Saint’s Day, called Hallowe’en, believe it or not, is Catholic, not pagan, in origin.
- Soulmas, November 2, is All Souls’ Day. It is a day of prayers for the dead in Purgatory.
- Martinmas, November 11, is the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. St. Martin is the first bishop and confessor honored by the Church in the West. He was a principal apostle of Gaul.
- Andermas, November 30, the Feast of St. Andrew. St. Andrew has the distinction of being the first disciple. It was St. Andrew who brought St. Peter, his brother, to Our Lord. It was he who pointed out the little boy with the five loaves and fishes with which Christ fed the multitudes.
- Lammas, August 1st, is the feast of St. Peter in Chains. “Lammas Day” or “Loaf Mass Day” is so called because this day was offered as thanksgiving for the wheat harvest, used for the bread that becomes the Eucharist.
A Ladymass is not a particular feast day, but any Mass offered in honor of Our Lady.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
